


Never-Was Has-Beens

by Amuly



Category: Marvel 616, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 1990s, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Novel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-08-31 09:16:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8572759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amuly/pseuds/Amuly
Summary: After too many brain-washings, deaths, and near-not-so-misses, Jack Monroe and Dennis Dunphy decide they've had it with the whole superhero bit. It's not like they were doing much good themselves: best to leave it up to the real heroes. They move down to Orlando with baby Bucky, determined to start a normal, suburban life. Of course heroing never really gets out of their blood, and the two totally normal suburban dads quickly find themselves tangled up in a conspiracy that might need some super-untangling.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Since Dennis Dunphy is now CANONICALLY GAY as of TODAY (11/16), I decided to post the first chapter of the NaNo I just-so-coincidentally started writing this month.

 

The lights on the side of the highway flickered over the interior of the car, illuminating the sleeping baby in her carseat in regular, metronomic intervals. The man in the passenger seat turned around once to check on her before returning his attention to the map spread in front of him on the car dash. The highway lights reflected off his shiny bald head in the same rhythm as they did the baby in the back seat. Their old woody rattled and rocked as he contemplated the map.

“Hey, Dennis. Check it out.”

The man in the passenger seat looked up from his map at the driver's soft words. Up ahead of them, shining through the late-night mist, rose a bright, clear sign on a bridge over the highway.

 _ORLANDO_ the sign announced in clean neon letters.

“Shouldn't be much longer now.” Dennis leaned down to consult his map once more. Their car's crummy shocks bounced him around in his seat as he held the map down with two meaty palms.

“What's our exit?”

Dennis squinted at the map in the flickering light. After a moment of hemming and hawing the light clicked on above his head. Dennis glanced up, then over at the man in the driver's seat. “Thanks, Jack. But I would have done that eventually.”

Jack smirked through a day of stubble, eyes fixed on the road. “Sure, babe.”

Dennis couldn't help smile at Jack for a few moments more, studying his face after hours spent in the flickering half-light, and oftentimes no light, of the Florida interstates. He turned back to his map quickly enough, though, and eventually let out a quiet “Ah-ha!” of triumph.

“Exit eighty-seven. What are we at now?”

“Eighty.”

Dennis nodded and sat back in his seat. After a moment he turned around and checked on the baby again—really a toddler, nearly. He had to stop calling her a baby soon. Still, as her mouth sucked gently at air, black hair puffing softly in the car's abysmal AC, she still looked all the world like a tiny, vulnerable little baby. Might always look that way to her dads, of course.

“How's Bucky doing?” Jack murmured at him, eyes flickering to the review.

Dennis smiled and turned back to settle into his over-warm and squeaky seat. “Perfect, as usual.”

Jack's mouth quirked in a smile as his gaze returned to the road. “'Course she is. Hasn't complained the whole way.”

“Yes, your single-parenting skills are above reproach,” Dennis complimented Jack. Then he waited a beat before musing: “Like all those times you took her on missions, beating up undead ninjas and mob bosses-”

“It was ninja bosses and undead mobsters, get it straight,” Jack shot back.

“Right, because that's better...” Dennis squinted at the map one more time before clicking off the overhead light. “After you take the exit keep right onto four-twenty-six.”

“Yessir.” They lapsed into silence as the city of Orlando rose in front of them, gleaming this time of night. It quickly enough faded away as they sped through it, an oasis of light in an otherwise barren landscape of cow pastures and orange groves for the past three hundred miles. In silence Jack pulled off the interstate onto the surface highways, weaving his way slowly out of the city and into the endless suburbia that surrounded Orlando, Florida. Dennis guided him until they were pulling into a tidy little neighborhood, not exactly brand-new but not old Florida either. Dennis and Jack counted the house numbers together, calling them out softly to each other as they squinted through the under-lit street.

“Six sixteen, here it is,” Dennis called out, tapping Jack on the shoulder. They pulled into the driveway, already cracking a little with age but not too badly. Most the houses on the street were dark, streetlights the only illumination once Jack turned off the car.

They stepped out together, both groaning and cracking their backs after an endless day of driving. As Jack circled around the front of the car, twisting and stretching his back as he went, he let out a groan that wasn't entirely joint and muscle-based.

“What?” Dennis asked as he bent to touch his toes.

“Nothing. Lovebugs. Gotta get the... whatever. Deal with it tomorrow. Not like this thing's a show car.” Jack kicked lovingly at the bumper of the woody.

“Lovebugs?” Dennis circled round to the front of the car with Jack, eyeing what he could see of the bumper in the dim light.

“You'll see tomorrow. Come on: let's get the mattresses inside, and her crib set up. I've got the diaper bag and her food in the cooler...” Jack trailed off, mumbling to himself, as he headed for the back seat. Dennis squinted one last time at the bumper before giving up and heading to the U-Haul trailer on the back of their car.

Bucky fussed softly as Jack extracted her from her car seat while Dennis lifted the rolling door on the back of the U-Haul and got to work. Jack entered the house just before Dennis, weighted down with Bucky in one arm and her diaper bag, blankets, cooler, and all other sundries occupying every other spare inch of his limbs. Dennis followed him, king-sized mattress thrown over his back. He set it down and jammed it through the door by himself, sliding it through the house back to where he recalled the master bedroom was from the pictures Jack had showed him.

Jack shot Dennis a grateful smile as he tossed the mattress onto the floor. Bucky's stuff was already strewn across one wall of the bedroom, little one herself squirming bleary-eyed in Jack's arms. Jack shushed her, patting her back and nuzzling her cheek softly.

“I know, little Miss. Almost time for bed. Here we go, let's get you changed...”

Dennis headed back out for the crib. Just that, then his and Jack's suitcases, and they'd be set up enough for tonight. It'd be diner food tomorrow morning, but he didn't really mind that, and couldn't imagine Jack did either. With a little bit of maneuvering Dennis managed to get the crib balanced on his back with one arm hooked under it, the other free to grab his and Jack's suitcase in one big palm. His steps were only a little slowed as he headed back into the house.

He could hear Jack singing softly in the bedroom to Bucky, one of those songs they had apparently bonded over while they were alone together on the road. It sounded Jackson-poppy, Janet or Michael, though Dennis couldn't be sure which. As he approached the bedroom door the singing trailed off. Dennis nudged it open with his shoulder, stopping short as it swung open. He smiled and set his and Jack's suitcases as quietly as he could inside the doorway, then squatted to let the crib pieces slide off his back. On the bed was Jack, sprawled on his back, Bucky nestled on his chest. The two were already asleep.

As quietly as he could Dennis put together the crib, heading out one more time to the car to grab the trashbags full of bedding they had stashed in the U-Haul, just next to the door because they knew they'd need it first. By the time he got back Jack was up again, shaking his shaggy head roughly after he set Bucky in the middle of the king-sized mattress.

“Here,” Jack held out his hand at the crib.

Dennis waved him off. “You drove all day. I got this.”

Jack's grim mouth screwed up, ready to protest, before Dennis cut him off.

“Why don't you make the bed, huh? And figure out how to turn the water on. I could use a hot shower after today.”

Jack grumbled to himself because he knew Dennis was playing him, but he acquiesced easily enough. They were done in no time at all, though it felt near interminable towards the end after a day of traveling. Still, they finished both their jobs with minimal swearing and only an average amount of grumbling. Dennis hopped in the shower and hopped out five minutes later to see Bucky asleep in her crib and Jack dozing on their mattress.

Dennis turned off the light before crawling into bed with Jack. He smelled like exhaust and sweat, but Dennis still buried his nose in Jack's neck and sighed contentedly. Jack stirred against him briefly, brushing his scratchy lips over Dennis' smooth scalp. “Stop thinking sappy things, lovebird,” Jack grumbled.

“You first,” Dennis shot right back.

A minute, two minutes into dozing off, Jack sat up beside Dennis, groaning softly.

“I didn't lock the damn car.”

Dennis padded out to the driveway alongside him, because that reminded him that he hadn't locked the back of the U-Haul, either. Eventually, far too late, the two men finally collapsed into bed and were able to sleep. Bucky had nearly an hour's head start.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

“But what are they?”

Jack fiddled with Bucky's highchair, checking the straps and whatnot on the flimsy thing the waitress had pulled out for them.

“They're just... bugs, Dennis.”

“But they don't sting?”

With Bucky satisfactorily secure, and cooing happily with her crayons and paper menu to boot, Jack turned most his attention back to poor, befuddled Dennis.

“No sting, no bite. They just float around, tied together at the butt, two months out of the year. Stick up the cars and land on you like... butterfly kisses.”

Dennis' whole face brightened about three notches, which was pretty daunting considering the guy always looked cheery enough to be on Publisher's Clearinghouse. “Butterfly kisses?”

Jack huffed, running a hand through his shaggy mullet. He knew he wasn't going to get out of this, so he turned to Bucky. “Miss Bucky! Do butterfly kisses to show pop-pop! Butterfly kisses, butterfly kisses...”

“Kisses kisses kisses!” Bucky beamed as Jack leaned in, fluttering his eyelashes. She leaned in with him, bonking their foreheads in her eagerness to flap her eyelashes at Jack. She pulled back with a happy gurgle, slapping her highchair table as a declaration of her success. Jack praised her and stroked her black hair. He turned back to Dennis with a shrug.

“Butterfly kisses.”

Dennis leaned across the table towards Jack, arms crossed on top of it. “ _I've_ never received any butterfly kisses. Are you holding out on me?”

The waitress was coming back their way from the kitchens. Jack shook his head subtly and leaned back. Dennis knew Jack's tells and leaned back with him, studying his menu like the picture of innocence. The tired-looking waitress nodded at them.

“You boys decided?”

“What's, uh. What's a 'grand slam'?” Dennis asked.

“Two pancakes, two eggs, two bacon, two sausage.”

Dennis shrugged. “I'll get two of those, then.”

The waitress eyed him up but didn't say anything. Jack nudged him under the table.

“Actually, make it three?” Dennis asked, smiling sheepishly.

“Coffee, black,” Jack ordered for himself, still scanning the menu. “And a glass of water. And... loaded veggie omelet, but can I get it egg whites only?”

The waitress snorted. “You do the healthy eating for the both of you?”

Jack shrugged. “Something like that. And scrambled eggs and milk for the little miss.” Jack started digging into his diaper bag, searching for Bucky's sippy cup. She was a tidy little thing, especially for a sixteen month old, but she still hadn't exactly mastered handling a cup without tipping it over at least once, or a half-dozen times, per meal.

“Can you bring a pitcher of OJ?” Dennis asked, half-raising his hand like he was in school. Jack raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. It was at the hand-raising, not the pitcher of OJ.

“You got it, mister.”

The waitress headed off to the kitchen, not once having written anything down. Jack kinda trusted her to remember everything. She seemed the career waitress type.

When the waitress brought their drinks out, Jack went fumbling through his bags, pulling out an assortment of pill bottles. Dennis' posture grew perceptively less cheery as he watched the procession. As Jack downed his first fistful, he gave Dennis an encouraging wink. “Feeling good today. Even after that drive.”

Dennis mustered up his brave-face smile. “Must be the lovebugs.”

Jack almost choked on his next fistful of pills, only just stopping swallowing in time. He shot Dennis a rueful look as he carefully took another swig from his water glass and tried again.

Bucky was sucking happily at her sippy cup when their meals arrived. As Dennis started steadily working on his necessary caloric intake, Jack cut up Bucky's eggs into teeny-tiny pieces and poured out a generous glob of ketchup on her plate. Bucky opened her mouth happily as Jack fed her, his own omelet growing cold. Not that he ever minded: the meds made him kind of nauseous, with or without food in his stomach, and watching Bucky munch away at her breakfast like the healthy little girl she was was a better panacea than a cruise ship's worth of AZT.

They finished their breakfast and gave the waitress as generous a tip as they could manage. At the front of the restaurant, in a little lobby before the door out, was a rack of local brochures. Jack eyed them and snatched up a handful that might come in handy. Bucky waited for him patiently, staring up at him from his knees while Dennis carried on ahead.

As they stepped out of the diner a wall of heat slammed into them. Dennis groaned while Jack flipped down his shades and pulled Bucky's out of her diaper bag. Bucky pushed them on seriously before grabbing her Daddy's hand and staring straight ahead into the parking lot.

“Orlando? Are we sure about this?” Dennis asked.

“It's May,” Jack pointed out. “It's going to be hot.”

“It's May, it should still be cool and feel like spring.”

Jack grinned toothily from beneath his overlarge shades. “At least it's not Miami. Trust me.”

“I never said I didn't,” Dennis told him.

“Alright Miss Bucky. Ready to go unpack?”

Bucky made a gesture which was sort of like snapping her fingers and then pointed ahead of her. Jack nodded seriously down at her.

“Let's do this.”

* * *

Jack groped though the box in the back of the U-Haul, trying helplessly to figure out what room it belonged in. Dennis jogged past him, scooping up their couch and tossing it over his back. He grabbed a box in one hand on the way back to the house. “Just take it in! Doesn't matter what's in it.”

“I'm trying to figure out where it goes!” Jack hollered after him. There were both dishes and weights in here. What the hell had they been thinking?

Dennis jogged back while Jack packed the box back up, finally conceding to tossing it... wherever there was floorspace left in their house. How had two apartments held so much stuff?

“If we don't turn the U-Haul in today there's a fine,” Dennis pointed out. “Just dump it anywhere. The point is to empty this darn thing.”

Jack snorted as Dennis helpfully stacked a second box onto the first already in his arms. Then Dennis turned around and scooped up their kitchen set: four chairs stacked in one hand, table in the other.

“Didn't I marry you for your millions?”

Dennis snorted. “Not since I died that one time and Captain America inherited every penny.” As Dennis trotted away from Jack up their driveway, he turned back briefly: “And when did you marry me?”

Jack's mouth twisted up ruefully as he followed Dennis in. “Well. You know.”

After Dennis set the kitchen set down he paused, leaning in the doorway between kitchen and living room. “Would you? If we could?”

Jack shrugged as he peered around for some empty floorspace that wasn't also a walking path. “We can't, so what's your point?”

Dennis shrugged and headed back out. He didn't say anything or do anything to indicate disappointment, but Jack made a note of it. Maybe that was something Dennis wanted—not _needed_ —as an affirmation of their... super team-up. Something Jack could do for him that would make him happy. Jack'd do a lot to make Dennis happy, and a little ceremony thing, a symbolic ring or another, that wasn't any skin off Jack's nose. He was definitely in this team-up for life. However much left he had.

When Jack set his two boxes down in the living room he wheeled over to the dining room to check on Bucky. She was getting a little fussy in her swing, so after checking her diaper Jack scooped her up and strapped her into her favorite place to be: on his back. He rejoined Dennis back outside with the U-Haul.

“You know, she's pretty much outgrown those things,” Dennis pointed out.

“Bull-hockey,” Jack swore. Bucky bounced against his back and giggled.

“She can walk.” Dennis scanned the U-Haul for anything left that was suitably heavy for his enhanced strength. Eventually he shrugged and started stacking boxes on their clunker of a TV.

“So?” Jack grabbed a couple garbage bags—must be linens or clothes—and started in, Dennis trailing behind him. He could feel Dennis making faces at Bucky on his back, which was just confirmed when Bucky shrieked and giggled. She started making blubbling noises back at him, blowing raspberries and screeching “Pap-pap!”

Jack tossed the bags into their bedroom, where they bounced off and over the mattress. He tossed his hair out of his eyes as he watched Dennis squat with his tower of boxes and a TV. “Every time she runs around she falls and knocks her face up more. And that's her money-maker.”

Dennis snorted loudly, expressing exactly how much he believed _that_ complete lie. Jack shrugged and conceded:

“Okay, so maybe I just don't want her face getting beat up before she starts sneaking out at fifteen and getting it beat up her own self heroing.”

Dennis shot Jack a look as they started collecting the last of the miscellanea from the U-Haul. “Don't say that.”

“We can not say it all we want, you know it's going to happen.”

“She's going to be a science nerd and study for her SATs all high school and get a job with NASA.”

“Yeah, okay,” Jack snorted. Their sort of line of work tended to run in families, as it was. Jack wasn't exactly rooting for his daughter to stalk alleys in the dead of night as a teenager, but he also knew it was almost definitely going to happen. God knows he did worse at that age, punching commies and... Jack shook his head. On the other hand, he was an orphan without a home. She had one. Maybe Bucky would grow up to be a good little science geek.

On the other hand, he had named her “Bucky.” His old side-kick name. Maybe fate was inevitable with that one.

After Jack set the last boxes down on top of a too-tall pile of other boxes, he unhooked Bucky from his back and let her run around. She immediately climbed onto a box and fell into it. Her head popped out, mouth spotty with teeth open and laughing raucously.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Jack squatted down to Bucky's eye-level.

“Cap'Merica!” Bucky shouted. She mimed throwing a shield and made “ _woosh, pow_!” noises with her mouth until she fell over again.

Jack straightened and glanced over at Dennis as he set the last slats of their bed frame in the bedroom. Dennis sighed and rubbed at his chrome-dome.

“We gotta get her some better role models,” Dennis complained.

“Who's better than Captain America?”

“Cap'Merica!” Bucky fell out of her box. She popped up immediately and started darting around the towers of boxes.

“Was that the last of it?” Jack asked.

Dennis nodded and cracked his back. “Finally, I think.”

Dennis collapsed onto the couch, while Jack lowered himself down onto his new carpeting. New to him, at least. Jack squinted at curly black hairs dug into the fibers. He'd get the vacuum out tonight. Later. Not right now.

Bucky stomped over to him, bare feet surprisingly loud on the carpet. She wobbled for a minute before dropping down onto her rump. Gently she placed an action figure of Captain America on his stomach, attempting to balance him upright against the gentle rise and fall of Jack's breathing.

“What do you want to next?”

“The same thing we do every night, Pinkie,” Jack replied without missing a beat. Dennis snorted softly on the couch, the sound just about dissolving into a soft snore. Jack could easily follow him into a nap right now. Captain America's boots tapped at his stomach, high-pitched sound effects helpfully added from his right.

“Why don't we take a nap,” Jack suggested, because if he didn't Bucky would start to get antsy. “And then we head out after dinner for a walk around the neighborhood.”

“What dinner?” Dennis murmured from the couch.

“I'll order pizza,” Jack promised him. “I've got brochures.”

“Don't do Pizza Hut,” Dennis begged.

Jack shook his head, hair pulling against the carpet. “Something called 'Papa Johns.' Looked okay.”

Dennis hummed skeptically. Lazily Jack reached out an arm and slapped at Dennis above him on the couch. “Sorry, Chicago. Probably won't get deep dish down south.”

“Gonna go deep dish down _your_ south,” Dennis murmured. Jack smacked at him harder.

“Watch your mouth.”

“Didn't even make sense,” Dennis defended himself.

“Deep dish south!” Bucky giggled, sensing this was something she shouldn't know.

Jack mock groaned and rolled over, grabbing Bucky under himself. Bucky screeched and tried to squirm away, but didn't try too hard.

“Alright, Buck-a-roo. Want to take a nap with daddies?”

The mattress still wasn't on a frame, but it fostered a cuddle-pile nap just fine.

* * *

The cicadas were screaming in the dusk, temperature still dictating rapid-fire chittering until the wall of heat was met by an equivalent wall of sound. Jack wiped at his face and sighed as he pushed Bucky's empty stroller, the intended passenger toddling along next to Jack, clutching to his cargo pants' legs.

“Look Bucky: swings.”

Bucky looked up to Jack for confirmation. He nodded, prompting her to release his pants and run ahead to the park. Jack scanned the surrounding area, watching for other kids, other adults, broken bottles, hypodermic needles poking out the sand...

The two of them had spent some time in LA, early on. He couldn't help being a little paranoid when it came to Bucky's safety. Probably every first parent had a healthy dose of anxiety, especially the single ones. There wasn't anything unusual or super about that.

Bucky was struggling to pull herself up onto the swing when Dennis and Jack caught up with her. Bucky patiently held up her arms, waiting for Daddy to lift her up. Daddy did, of course, and she was off, giggling with joy as she held on tight to the swing chains. Jack scanned the neighborhood as he pushed her.

“It's a nice area,” Dennis said, guessing at his thoughts.

“It is,” Jack agreed. He never said it wasn't. But bad things happened in nice places.

“Clocked the trail down there?” Jack pointed out, nodding at the back of the neighborhood. Dennis glanced over at it.

“Oh, that looks nice. Do you want to go down it?”

Jack glanced up at the rapidly-setting sun, then over at the unlit trail. He shook his head. “Not tonight. Maybe-”

“Huh.”

Jack stopped, waiting for Dennis to explain. He just cocked his head and took a few steps forward, squinting at something.

“Yeah?”

Dennis shook his head and jogged off without explanation, stopping at a park bench just at the trailhead. Jack kept pushing Bucky on the swing, trying not to let his over-cautious mood bleed into her. She never cared when they were on the road together, or missions. But she was a smart kid and could tell when Jack and Dennis were being serious and adjusted her own mood accordingly. She shouldn't have to do that: not now, not here, in the suburbs with her daddies, settling into a normal life. All those super-days were behind them so she could go on being a normal kid. Jack didn't want her to fall into old habits.

Dennis jogged back after a minute, mouth turned down in a rarely-seen frown. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Those are hobo-signs.”

Jack's expression clouded over at the reminder of Dennis' lower times. He grunted noncommittally. Dennis stared back at the park bench, chewing his lower lip. Bucky giggled happily on the swings, occasionally telling her daddy “More!”

“I think I'm going to check it out.”

Jack opened his mouth, then shut it as he pushed Bucky in the swing. He looked at her, then Dennis, then back to her. Dennis raised his eyebrows.

“She's been in worse situations than some nature trail in the suburbs,” Jack pointed out.

Dennis smiled warmly at him. “She's happy on the swings. No reason to drag her down some trail in search of a mystery. Normal, right?”

Jack’s face scrunched up but he nodded. “Right. Normal.” After a beat he grumbled: “You're going down some trail looking for trouble.”

Dennis laughed and reached out to cover Jack’s hand with his own on the swing chain. Jack appreciated the gesture, but still looked around for unkind observers. Much as Orlando was largely Disney plastic-packed, people still lived here. Guys with kids who would do anything to protect them from the sorts of folks they thought Jack and Dennis were (and which, really, they were about half-right on at least some of their prejudices).

“Meet you back home?”

Jack shrugged, trying not to let his worry or disappointment or whatever other emotions were swirling around inside of him show on his face. Dennis smiled at him one more time, then bent to ruffle Bucky's hair. She blew a raspberry at him, and he blew one right back, before heading out for the trail. Jack kept his eyes off Dennis and focused on Bucky as she closed her eyes and soared on the swing set.

* * *

Dusk was quickly giving way to night as Dennis headed for the trailhead. He hadn't told Jack what the hobo-signs had _said_ , not wanting to worry him too much. Not to mention that if Jack had known “DANGER!” was scrawled all over the park bench, iterated and loud and impossible to ignore. This seemed like a safe, normal suburban neighborhood. It was difficult to imagine what would have a homeless population shouting such an insistent warning to each other.

As Dennis wandered further down the trail, his sense of unease grew. Not because anything looked sinister or malicious: the exact opposite, in fact. The trail was almost well-maintained: nature was kept at the banks of the asphalt trail, working benches spotted it every few hundred yards, and the crosswalks were well-signed. The houses Dennis could see along the trail were all middle-class houses, backyards running the gamut from well-kept to a little wild, but nothing indicating a serial killer of homeless or vitriolic police presence prowled the trails. But every few benches, or on crosswalk posts, was scrawled the same sign: a circle with an arrow protruding from it. _Danger_.

As he walked further down the trail Dennis noted when he left the neighborhood, then left all the nearby neighborhoods behind. The woods around the trail, and Dennis started going slower, peering down through the swampy undergrowth for signs of a homeless camp.

Sure enough, a couple miles outside the last neighborhood, Dennis spotted tell-tale signs of a semi-regular path trampled through the undergrowth. It was getting dark out, to the point that any normal person would think twice before storming into the swampland of central Florida in search of a danger that was scaring off the local homeless population. But Dennis had gone toe-to-tail with the Serpent Society, had two weeks worth of calories sucked out of him in a minute, and been frozen in a block of ice for over a year. Some jack-booted cops or angry soccer dads weren't going to scare him out of the wilds of central Florida's suburbs.

Dennis picked his way through the trail, light fading, until he spotted a clearing in the growth ahead. His heart beat sped up as he spotted the top of a tent. As he pushed through the last of the undergrowth the tent started shaking: someone was coming out.

Dennis stumbled to a stop, hands up at the edge of the small clearing. “I'm not here to bother you!”

A bald head appeared from inside the tent, then a neck... collared with a priest's black and white collar. Dennis blinked as a tidy priest emerged from the tent, eyebrows raised.

“Well that's good: neither am I.”

“Oh, sorry Father. I thought...” Dennis hesitated. The priest didn't look homeless: the ring of hair above his ears was neatly trimmed, his clothes were washed and pressed. But after a couple years on the street himself, Dennis knew you couldn't always tell just by looking.

The priest introduced himself: “I'm Father Tom. Can I help you, young man?” Father Tom stepped away from the tent, opening up a direct path between Dennis and the tent flap. As Father Tom waited for an answer, head tilted politely, body language non-threatening, Dennis realized what he was doing.

“Oh, uh! I just moved here. With my family. I'm not...” Dennis gestured between himself and the tent. Father Tom smiled, though it was more strained.

“Are you looking for someone...?”

Dennis shook his head. Shoot, this was going all wrong. He tried again, stuck out his hand. “Dennis Dunphy. I'm a... an ex-sidekick. I worked with the homeless in New York for a few years.”

Father Tom nodded now, realization smoothing his expression. “Ah. I'm sorry, I don't keep up with all that...” he waved his hand vaguely, “spandex. Should I know you?”

Dennis grinned ruefully. “No, not probably. It's why me and... the family moved down here. We weren't exactly heavy-hitters up there. Time to leave the heroing to the real heroes and just try to raise our daughter right.”

Father Tom “ah'd” softly in understanding.

“I saw the hobo-signs,” Dennis explained. “Have you seen them? Do you know what they mean?”

Father Tom's expression grew guarded. “I have, and I do.”

He didn't seem willing to elaborate just now, so Dennis nodded. “Just thought I'd keep an eye out. What's your parish?”

“St. Augustine. Our doors are always open, of course.”

Dennis smiled warmly, even in the face of the priest's stonewalling. It was his community, after all. Dennis was just some unknown interlocutor. He was sure Father Tom had the best interests of his flock at heart.

“Thanks.” Dennis threw a cheery thumb over his shoulder. “I better be getting back. Who knows what sort of trouble my family's gotten into without me.”

Father Tom chuckled. “Surely nothing so bad.”

“Well, you'd be surprised...” Dennis grumbled good-naturedly to himself.

* * *

Bucky started squirming a few minutes later, until she grumbled: “Uh-oh,” and slid off the swing set. She squinted up at Jack, face scrunched up in discomfort. He knew that face.

“Okay, sweetheart. Let's get you changed.” Jack scooped her up, soggy diaper and all.

There was a seven-eleven on the way back from the park, and the house was another thirty minute walk into the neighborhood, so Jack veered off into it, pushing the stroller ahead of him while Bucky sat on his hip, peering out at this new place.

“Bathroom?” Jack asked the bored guy at the front counter. He got a thumb jerked at the back wall. Jack nodded and headed that way.

Jacked hummed a nonsense song as he and Bucky went into the women's bathroom, rubbing her back in time with the tune. As Jack taped up the new diaper the chime went on the front of the store. He didn't pay it any attention, until he heard a shout and a woman's voice.

“Give me the money!”

Jack waited a beat, then two. Then he rubbed his face and groaned. He looked at Bucky, who was staring at him with the sort of attention she reserved for heroing. Which is what he was faced with right now, of course: did he do exactly what they moved here to leave behind?

“Put it in the bag! I'll use this, I swear to God!”

Okay, so there was a weapon involved. Probably a gun. Jack gently tapped his fist against his forehead. Then he reached into Bucky's diaper bag and pulled out his stun disks. He squatted down so he could look Bucky in the eye.

“Hero time.”

Bucky nodded so seriously.

“Stay small and hidden.”

Bucky nodded her most serious nod.

Jack straightened up and fingered his stun disks. Dennis was going to kill him.

Jack kicked the door open and ducked out, racing behind the shelves.

The robber was still at the front of the store. It was a woman, which Jack had figured by the voice but now was confirmed by body type and the thick ponytail of curly brown hair. She seemed young, even beneath the ski mask: shaking hands, jittery body-language, leaning half towards the door even as the cashier loaded up the pillowcase she'd shoved at him. Jack shook his head. Not a super, not even an adult. Probably a first time offender. Jack immediately dialed down his own adrenaline.

He whistled once, loud and sharp. The girl jumped a mile, turning back to look at him. She had a gun in her right hand... except it wasn't a gun, Jack could tell by the weight of it in her hand, the way her wrist was firm, her movements too quick. Jack pulled back the adrenaline even more as he lobbed one stun disk at her hand. It sailed through the air with all the accuracy years of being Captain America's sidekick had ingrained into him. The girl yelped and dropped her fake gun, clutching her hand to her chest. Jack threw another disk as she headed for the door, knocking her legs out from under her. Jack got to her in a half dozen steps, dropping his knee down onto her back and grabbing her arms up in one hand. “Stay down,” he warned her. He had zip ties in his hand in a second, tying her hands behind her back, and her feet at the ankles. He didn't go for the full hog-tie given the age of the girl, and her obvious inexperience. She probably wouldn't be orchestrating a daring escape before the cops got there: she wasn't exactly Batroc the Leaper.

A string of Spanish curse words were levied at him, while the cashier called the cops in the background. Jack sighed and tugged off her ski mask, getting a quick look at the girl for reference.

“I'm going to pick up my bag. Don't try and escape.”

The girl squirmed and glowered at him, then swore again. He rolled his eyes and headed to the back of the store.

Bucky peered out at the commotion from behind a wireframe display of potato chips. Her hand was clenched around a X-ESTY, X-TREME flavor of some kind. Jack gently extracted her hands and tugged her up into his arms.

“O-k?” she asked seriously.

“Okay!” Jack told her, bouncing her up and down. “Bad guys bye-bye.”

“Bad guys bye-bye!” she shouted in response. She raised both hands up and Jack smacked each one of them in a gentle high-five.

Jack collected his diaper bag and stroller, then returned to the front of the store, Bucky clinging to his back like the little monkey she was. He picked up his stun disks and handed them back to her, which she carefully replaced into the hidden pockets in his coat. The girl on the floor had maneuvered herself upright and was watching them incredulously.

“Do you have a baby sidekick?”

Jack shrugged as Bucky slid back down into his arms. “She's better at this than you are,” he pointed out. “And where else am I supposed to find good help these days?”

The girl stared at him like she wasn't sure if he was joking or crazy. She'd be right either way.

“What's your name?” he asked. He set the diaper bag in the stroller and squatted down next to her. Bucky wobbled onto her own two feet before hurrying over to the girl.

“Why should I tell you?” Bucky grabbed at the girl's shoulder, then looked down at her zip-tied hands. She fell onto her bottom and started playing with the tie.

“You're going to tell the cops in about two minutes, and I'll still be here,” Jack pointed out. “Not to mention I'm who you want on your good side right now. I'm going to give most of the report.”

The girl scowled, but her eyes were trained on Bucky. Jack hid his smiled. Worked almost every time.

“Gabrielle,” she mumbled, accent heavier on her own name. “Go by 'Gabby,' though.”

“Jack Monroe,” Jack introduced himself. “And the little miss is Bucky.”

Gabby's hands were turned up, fingers tickling at Bucky's palms. Bucky giggled and grabbed at them, occasionally smiling slyly up at Gabby like they were in on some secret together. Gabby snorted, then sniffled. Her eyes were starting to tear up. “That's a dumb name.”

The cop showed up a minute later, a female officer with a name Jack almost immediately forgot. She cut Gabby's zip ties and handcuffed her with the real deal before setting her outside on the curb as she took witness statements. Jack fiddled with Bucky's stroller, clicking her in absently as he eyed the girl hunched over outside.

“Hey, listen.” Jack pulled the cop aside with a hand on her elbow. “I'm trying to start anything. But I'm an ex-super. Moved in from NYC. Any chance I can talk to her for a minute?”

The cop snorted as she scribbled on her notepad. “Still going to have to take her in.”

“She's a kid. If you book her on robbery with a deadly weapon...”

“She's a kid who robbed a convenience store.”

“Attempted to.”

The cop looked up from her notepad, though she kept scribbling. “You can talk to her. But I'm still going to book her.”

Jack scowled scooped Bucky out of her stroller and hurried out to the curb where Gabby was handcuffed. Bucky squirmed in his arms, though she settled when she saw Gabby, crying into her sleeve.

“Hey.” Jack kicked at the curb next to her. “Room for two more?”

Gabby shifted away from Jack, sniffling loudly. “Free country.”

Jack sat down alongside her. Bucky squirmed, so he let her go, setting her down onto the curb between himself and the crying teenager. Bucky scooted in her awkward baby way, fumbling her body sideways until she was grabbing at Gabby's thighs. Gabby looked down at her, eyes clearing slightly as Bucky stared seriously up at her, brown eyes wide with concern.

“What do you want?”

Jack rubbed his hands on his jeans. “What's up with this?” he gestured to the convenience store where the cop was taking the clerk's statement.

“Whaddya mean?”

“Why'd you do it?” Jack asked her.

Gabby snorted, but not too loudly, because Bucky was still looking at her. Gabby stuck her tongue out at her and Bucky smiled, showing off her two front teeth. Gabby almost smiled back.

“Whaddya think? Needed the money.”

“No you didn't.”

“You don't know me.”

“You're robbing a seven-eleven in the suburbs. You're not exactly a 'hard _chica_.'”

Gabby glared at him. “Okay, _chivato_.”

Jack shrugged. “Your clothes are average and I bet you go to one of the schools around here, not the Orlando ones. So why'd you do it?”

“I just told you. Unplug your ears.”

Jack snorted. “I just told _you_. Who was it for? Friend? Boyfriend? Your mom sick? Kid sibling in trouble?”

Gabby hesitated. Jack waited a beat, then turned to face Gabby more.

“Listen, you don't look like a bad kid. I got an eye for that sort of thing. You look like someone who's trying to help. So who you trying to help?”

“ _Mi_ _hermano_ ,” she mumbled to herself. After a moment she took a breath and said to Jack: “My brother. Big brother, he's older than me.”

Jack nodded, waiting for her to go on. But she didn't, just shook her head and made another face at Bucky. Bucky smiled and reached for her arm, steadying herself against Gabby.

After a moment Jack stood up, tapping at Bucky's head. “Alright sweetheart, come on.” Obediently Bucky grabbed at his pants' leg and followed him back into the convenience store.

“Don't press charges,” Jack told the clerk. The guy stared at him like he grew a second head. Which he had, once, hooray for the imagination of super-villain rays. “I'll take responsibility for her. I'm going to give her a job.”

“I don't care if you give her a job, she robbed my store!”

Jack rolled his eyes and leaned against the counter. “One: she _tried_ to rob your store. Didn't succeed, thanks to me. Keep that in mind. Two: I'm going to keep her from robbing stores in the future by employing her. Three: what if I make her come here a couple times a week and work for free? Doing all the shit work, cleaning toilets and scrubbing the ceilings, whatever you want.”

The clerk eyed Jack, then the bathrooms. Jack tilted his head and grinned toothily. Yeah, that'd do it.

“Okay, fine! I won't press charges.”

Jack tapped the counter and spun around for the cop. “Well? What do you say?”

A minute later Jack was outside, scribbling on a sheet of paper he stole from the clerk. “Here's my address. You're going to show up here after school tomorrow. You're my new babysitter. I'll pay you and everything.”

Gabby stared at Jack, still handcuffed and sitting on the curb. “What?”

“You're also going to work here one day a week until the manager says you've paid them back.”

“I didn't steal anything!”

“Pain and suffering,” Jack told her dryly. He reached down and helped her up, holding her steady by her arm as she stumbled to her feet with her hands cuffed behind her back.

Once she was standing, Gabby peered up at Jack, big brown eyes confused but starting to glimmer with hope. Jack looked away, reaching down to tug Bucky up into his arms. He was used to doing the right thing, had played that hero game for years alongside Captain America's side. You think he'd be used to how people got when you helped, but. Jack patted Bucky's hair down and kissed her cheek, not looking too hard in Gabby's direction.

“When you come by tomorrow, I want you to tell me about your brother,” Jack ordered her. “What kind of trouble he's in. See if we can figure something out that isn't robbing a convenience store.”

“Who do you think you are?” Gabby demanded.

But then the cop came out of the store to undo her handcuffs and told her she was free to go. Gabby rubbed at her wrists and stared between the two of them, gaze finally coming to rest on Jack. Bucky peered at her and reached out, grabbing the air alongside her face. Gabby took a step closer until Bucky could grab at her ponytail, which she did, enthusiastically. Jack smiled as he passed Bucky off to her.

“I don't know anything about kids,” Gabby mumbled, even as she bounced Bucky on her hip and gently extracted her hair from grubby fingers.

“You learn. Pretty fast, in my experience,” Jack told her. “And Bucky's easy. She does as she's told and only fusses when she means it.”

Gabby snorted. “Don't all parents think their kids are the best?”

Jack shot her a toothy grin. “Not at this age.”

Gabby shifted Bucky in her arms, pulling her away from her chest so she could get a good look at her. Bucky snuffled, then giggled as she kicked her feet in the air. Her eyes stayed trained on Gabby's voluminous ponytail.

“My mom'd kill me if I got arrested,” Gabby admitted.

“She can thank me later.”

Bucky giggled and reached out at Gabby, fingers curling into little grabby fists. Gabby sighed and pulled her back in, letting her grab greedily at her ponytail. Gabby glanced down and away, not meeting Jack's eyes.

“ _Fine_ ,” she grumbled. “You got a deal. Superhero.”

“Not anymore,” Jack told her. Holding his hands out, he scooped Bucky back up into his arms. “Tomorrow after school. Or I'll send the cops to your house and _tu madre_ will see for herself what you've been up to.”

Gabby glared at him. “Don't try and speak Spanish, _chivato_.”

Jack grinned toothily. “Be there.”

She would be, Jack didn't have a doubt. He collected up Bucky's stroller and diaper bag as he headed back for home. He tried to put Bucky in the stroller, but of course she kicked up a fuss until he set her on the ground and let her toddle along next to him. As they were walking at a sixteen-month-old's pace, Jack wasn't surprise when Dennis caught up with them before they reached their home.

“Sweetheart! Honey bee! Miss me?”

Jack rolled his eyes but it was only because he was trying to suppress a smile. Dennis scooped up Bucky who screeched giddily as he swung her around before kissing her belly in excess. He settled Bucky on his shoulders as he fell into line with Jack.

“So? You two stay out of trouble all by yourselves?”

Jack winced and waited for it. Sure enough, from where she was wrapped around Dennis' head, Bucky shouted: “Pow pow!! Bad guys!”

Jack stared straight ahead as he saw Dennis turn to look at him in his peripheral vision.

“Jack...?”

Jack glared up at Bucky, but she knew he didn't mean it, of course. She just hugged Dennis' scalp as she smiled at Jack. Then she got distracted and started sucking lightly at Dennis' head, eyes crossing a little as she mouthed at him.

“I found us a babysitter,” Jack decided to start with. “Gabrielle. Sweet kid.”

“Is Gabrielle a supervillian?” Dennis growled. But he was too cheery of a guy to ever pull off stern when he didn't really, really mean it, and since both Jack and Bucky were unharmed, he clearly didn't really, _really_ mean it. _Really_.

“She's a fifteen year old girl,” Jack shot back.

After a moment Dennis repeated himself: “Is she a supervillian?”

Jack huffed and ran a hand through his mullet. “She's just some teenager. She was holding up the seven-eleven back there. She's not a bad kid. She had a toy gun, for fuc-” Jack glanced up at Bucky, who was watching him as she mouthed at Dennis' scalp. “-fudge's sake.”

His kid was going to have such a potty mouth. Dennis was his saving grace at that.

“So we have a wanted criminal as a babysitter now?”

“Well, Bucky and I are wanted criminals. Depending on who you're asking,” Jack pointed out.

Dennis sighed and bounced Bucky on his shoulders. “Well, I guess I'll meet her tomorrow.”

“You're going to end up making cookies for her, you softie.”

Dennis snorted. “We'll see about that. In the meantime, I want to get the gym set up tonight. I already feel my muscles atrophying.”

“Your muscles _can't_ atrophy,” Jack pointed out. He shoved one hand in his pocket as he continued to push Bucky's stroller with the other one. “You'll be sixty and buff as you are now.”

Dennis glanced over at Jack, expression tight. Jack shook his head, willing him not to reassure him about how Jack would most definitely be there with him, that Jack had decades of life ahead of him, that Jack would be just as strong at sixty as he was now, just like he would be. Dennis thankfully kept his mouth shut and tickled at Bucky's chubby calves. Bucky giggled and kicked hard at his shoulders.

“Go ahead and set up the gym,” Jack told him, steering the conversation back to kinder topics. “I'm going to give the little Miss her bath and get her ready for bed. And I guess unpack all the bathroom junk. We put it in the bathroom, didn't we?”

Dennis shrugged. “Maybe. Only one way to find out!”

“Bad guy pow pow!” Bucky giggled against Dennis' head. Dennis sighed.

“I left you alone for a half hour,” Dennis moaned.

“At least I left her hidden while I worked!” Jack pointed out.

“ _Pow pow_!” Bucky declared.

“She's going to be stalking rooftops in two years,” Dennis sighed.

“Come on. Gotta be five, at least.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

Jack darted under Dennis arm, rolled, and came up holding two stun-discs. Dennis snorted and batted them out of the air, one after the other, as they slowly circled the mats. Jack's heart was pounding, his ears ringing, but he kept moving. He wasn't going to let Dennis' strength-augmented super-bullshit take him down. He was Captain America's partner _first_. He'd trained with the guy for _years_ before Dennis came along. He had to make the Bucky name proud: some fake ex-wrestler wasn't going to get one up on him.

Dennis lunged, surprisingly fast for a guy his size. But Jack knew exactly how fast Dennis was, exactly what his reaction times and fast twitch muscles were capable of. Jack ducked under Dennis and slapped him upside the back of his shaved head as he past. Dennis laughed as he re-centered himself, slapping another stun disc out of the air. Jack glowered and flung another one wide, banking it off the wall behind Dennis. Dennis just snorted and slapped it down without looking.

“How'd you get so good at that?” Jack grumbled, wicking hair from his eyes.

“Well, if I'd have to guess...” Dennis kicked one of Jack's stun-discs back to him. Jack scooped it up, mouth twisting.

Jack flipped the disc in his hand, feeling the weight of his lead-weighted, steel-plated disc in against his palm. “How're your hands?”

Dennis shrugged. He held out one hand to Jack, the other kept close to his body, fighting-ready. “Fine. Not bothering me.”

Jack flipped the disc out one last time, straight for Dennis' head. He put as much force behind it as he could, shoulder burning with the effort. Dennis' hand snapped up, catching the disc in his palm. He held it out to Jack with a grin, disc pinched between thumb and forefinger. Jack groaned and let himself fall against the gym wall in defeat. Dennis dropped the disc and jogged over to him, smile faltering slightly. Jack waved him off.

“I'm fine, it's not that. You just wore me out.”

Dennis beamed, crowding closer to Jack. “You know, I could wear you out even more...” he hummed. He pressed close, crouching down so he could nose under Jack's chin. Jack's body started naturally responding to the attention, even through the ache and shaky tiredness of his muscles. He breathed hard as Dennis pinned him to the wall, flattening his body against Jack's.

“Bucky...”

“She's napping in her swing,” Dennis murmured. His teeth scraped carefully against Jack's throat.

Jack fought against the haze of arousal to push one hand against Dennis' chest. When Dennis lifted his head to peer at him, Jack asked: “Can you check?”

Dennis grinned ruefully, but dipped his head for a quick kiss before darting out of the room. A moment later he was back, along with lube and a condom. Jack stripped off his sweaty work-out clothes as Dennis shut and locked the door.

“Dozing like the angel she is,” he reassured Jack. He tossed the lube and condom at Jack before stripping himself down. Jack got himself slicked up, not interested in foreplay right now. That's what the sparring was for, after all.

Dennis grabbed him by the neck and kissed him hard. When Jack went weak in the knees Dennis used it to his advantage and kicked his legs out from under him. Dennis held onto Jack's neck, pressing his face to the mat as he wrapped his other hand around Jack's hip. Jack groaned at the manhandling, one hand scrambling at the mat while the other dipped between his legs to fist at his erection. As Dennis lined himself up, Jack's stomach flipped, body and soul too in love with this man.

Dennis pushed into him hard, bottoming out for a second before pulling back and thrusting in again. Jack's eyes squeezed shut against the assault, cheek squished against the gym floor mats and rubbing uncomfortably. But he loved it, just as much as he loved Dennis: the sweat and the discomfort and all of it. It reminded him that he was alive, that he could still connect with someone, that he still had a family and closeness in this world, even after everything.

As they fell into a rhythm together Jack dropped his hand, pressing both forearms down against the mats as Dennis fucked him hard. A minute later and Dennis reached around to pick up where Jack had left off, jerking him tight in his big fist. Jack grunted his approval as loud as he dared, with Bucky in the next room. Dennis' palm felt over-hot, maybe from all the damage he did to it slapping Jack's stun-discs out of the air. Jack couldn't believe that didn't hurt Dennis, at least a little bit. Whatever it was, it was sending Jack over the edge as fast as usual. They had a kid, after all: it's not like they had the luxury of some tantric Sting bullshit fucks.

Jack tapped Dennis' hand away and replaced it with his own before he came. No use exposing Dennis to his bodily fluids any more than necessary. Jack cradled his hand to himself as Dennis continued to fuck him, riding out the pleasure of his orgasm until Dennis poured his own completion into the condom a few minutes later.

They took a minute to themselves, sprawled out on the mats, kissing and rubbing, calves tangled with each other, as they both floated on the glowy side of orgasm. Dennis curled his big body nearly in half as he cuddled up against Jack, who stroked at Dennis' hairy arm where it was thrown over his chest.

“I'm achey,” Jack observed without any real concern. He shifted his legs half-heartedly, giving up after a moment when his thighs protested against the movement. A week of this moving—first loading up the U-Haul, then sedentary for a day, then another day of unpacking the U-Haul—and Jack's muscles were all screwed up, rebelling agains the strange pattern of inactivity and activity.

Dennis giggled against Jack's neck, pressing kisses there. “Did I fuck your legs out from under you?”

“Seems like.” Jack tried moving his legs again and gave up. Screw it. Dennis could do the walking for him.

But there was a baby in the house and a kitchen still to unpack, so eventually Dennis pulled away and Jack sighed and pushed himself upright.

“When's this girl coming today?” Dennis asked as he pulled his clothes back on.

“After school,” Jack told him. Then he cocked his head. “Which... I don't know when that is. When do you figure school gets out? Three? Four?”

Dennis laughed and shrugged. “We haven't started looking for schools for Bucky, so how should I know?”

“Last time I went to school was at an orphanage in the fifties,” Jack pointed out. “I figured you'd have a better idea of standard high school schedules than me.”

“It's different all over,” Dennis replied. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jack's nose before helping him up.

“It won't be as early as two, do you think? I've got to run to Sam's, get toilet paper, paper towels, all that big junk.” Jack flapped his arm half-heartedly at his pants, then peered up imploringly at Dennis. Sucker that he was, Dennis grabbed up Jack's clothes and brought them to him, even helping him tug his shirt back on. Jack grimaced at the sweat-wet clothing. He was headed straight for the shower anyway.

“I don't think so. But I'll be here, in case it is.”

Jack shook his head. “She met me, not you. I'd rather be here to start. Less confusing that way, don't want her thinking she's got the wrong house.”

Dennis shrugged and dropped a kiss to Jack's nose. Jack scrunched up his face but didn't reject the affection. Dennis was an affectionate guy. You got used to it.

“Gonna hit the shower,” Jack told Dennis. Just when Dennis started to trail hopefully after him, Bucky started fussing in the other room. Not crying, exactly, but making expectant noises that meant she wanted her daddies to notice her. They filed out of the gym obediently, Dennis hurrying over to scoop Bucky out of her swing. She gurgled happily and poked at Dennis' chrome-dome as he patted her bum, checking for wetness. Jack gave her a quick kiss before heading off to the shower, explaining “Daddy's dirty and needs to take a bath.” Bucky nodded understandingly. She knew “dirty” and “bath”, since they said those words every night at bath time. As Jack stripped down for the shower running in the background, he marveled at how smart his girl was, how much she had already learned and absorbed and figured out all on her own. Then he shook his head and stuck his hand in to check the water temperature. He had a lifetime to be a proud papa ahead of him. For today, there were things to do.

* * *

 

Jack pointed at Gabby's hoop earrings as soon as he opened the door. “Take those out.”

Gabby snorted and glared at him. “Uh, you don't get to tell me how to dress. You think you're _mi papi_?”

Jack turned around to hide a smile as he led her into the house. “No, but I think unless you feel like going for the _National Geographic_ look, you're going to want to take those out before Bucky gets her mitts on them.”

Right on cue, Bucky raced through the kitchen door, toddling furiously on wobbly legs as her bare feet slapped at the ground. She was butt-naked, screeching delightedly as she made a beeline for Jack. Behind her Dennis came jogging a moment late, towering frame hunched in half as he reached out for her.

“Sweetheart! Come on, let's get your pull-ups on-”

“Papa! No, no, no!” Bucky scrambled into Jack's arms, climbing onto his shoulder in a moment as she hid from Dennis. Jack snorted as Dennis came to a stop in front of him and straightened up with a groan and a hand pressed to his back. He held out the clean pull-ups diaper between them.

“Your turn to try.”

Jack nodded over his shoulder. “Let Gabby do it. She's gotta learn, right?”

When Jack turned around Gabby was frantically unclipping her earrings and pulling back her hair. She smiled shakily at Bucky, craning her neck to try and make eye contact with the squirmy toddler as she tried to hide behind her dad's mullet. Jack tugged Bucky off him, holding her out to Gabby. Bucky wriggled defiantly, naked tushie swinging in the breeze.

Gamely Gabby grabbed Bucky up in one arm, then held out her other hand for the diaper. Jack passed it off with a smile and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched.

It took about two minutes, and Gabby definitely would have lost an earlobe if she still had those oversized earrings in, but eventually Bucky was standing shirtless in her pull-ups, looking vaguely put-out but no worse for wear. Gabby was panting and half her hair was tugged out of her ponytail, but she too was standing, mostly no worse for wear. She smiled her first genuine smile at Jack.

“There! That wasn't so bad.”

“Wait 'til you try feeding her,” Jack warned her.

“Oh, no, she's an angel at that! Perfect eater. It just tends to get everywhere,” Dennis insisted.

Gabby glanced at him, question on her lips but too polite to ask it. Jack glanced between the two of them, not sure how to do that introduction. After a moment's hesitation he decided to just go for it. That always seemed to work for him so far.

“Gabby, this is Dennis,” he prompted. Gabby smiled and nodded at him.

“Hey, I'm Gabby,” she introduced herself. She stuck her hand out to Dennis.

Jolly fellow that he was, Dennis scooped Gabby's hand up in both of his and pumped it up and down. He beamed overly large at Gabby while Jack ducked his head and smiled at him from over Gabby's shoulder. Even Bucky burbled happily at her papa from Jack's arms.

“Dennis! Bucky's other dad.”

Gabby froze, smile stuck to her face as her eyes darted between Dennis and Jack. She let her hand drop from Dennis' and stepped back. Jack tensed. He hadn't really thought about it, but Gabby was probably Catholic, conservative background... he readied for a fight.

But then Gabby's smiled reached her eyes again, even if the smile itself was a little shaky. “Oh, shit, no, hey:” she held up both hands and shook her head, “I got nothing to say about that, you know. Jack just didn't look like, ya know, one of those types,” she flapped her wrist unhelpfully. Jack snorted while Dennis continued to smile cheerily.

“Oh, we come in all shapes and sizes!” he proclaimed. “You'd be shocked at the types of fellas you'd see mingling with us. Not all show tunes and limp wrists,” he flapped his hand in mimicry of Gabby's earlier gesture. She flushed at being caught out. Dennis laughed and continued happily: “Though I do love show tunes, and can be caught wearing a frilly apron and puttering around the kitchen most weekends. So I guess it's all mix-and-match. Like most things in life!”

“Is it okay?” Jack asked, still watching Gabby carefully. “If it's not, you can go. I won't turn you over to the cops.”

At this Gabby shook her head firmly. She looked Jack in the eye, chin out, finally deciding how she was going to feel about this. “No, it's... cool. Real... European, ya know?”

Jack snorted. “Steve would have a fit,” he told Dennis.

“Steve liked Europe!” Dennis insisted. “He just liked America _best_.”

Gabby's eyes darted between them, question there but too polite to ask. Jack didn't elaborate. Their secret identities weren't overly secret, but they didn't really need the attention of a neighborhood of kids trying to catch a glimpse of Captain America's ex-partners. Jack changed the subject.

“Come on into the living room. We'll show you Bucky's set up, her dolls, you know.”

Bucky blinked and stared up at Jack. “Dolls?”

“Captain America?” Jack prompted back. Bucky squeaked and squirmed in his arms, begging to be let down. He dropped her to the floor where she toddled off to the living room, shouting “Cap'Mica!”

By the time the grown-ups—and teenager—made it to the living room, Bucky was sitting on her rump, dragging her Captain America toy through the carpet. He came complete with motorcycle accessory, which Bucky was holding in her left hand, not quite sure what to do with it but liking the feel of it all the same. Bucky slammed Cap against the ground excitedly as the adults walked in. Jack winced, silently apologizing to Steve. The big softy would love it anyways. Dennis sat down in his armchair near the fireplace, while Jack bent aching joints to sit on the floor, across from Bucky. Gabby stood awkwardly for a moment in the center of the room before lowering herself to sit a few feet in front of Bucky.

“What kind of name is 'Bucky', anyway?” Gabby asked. Bucky, hearing her name, giggled and crawled toward Gabby, one hand clasping reflexively in front of her. Gabby swung her ponytail away from Bucky with a mock-grimace, sticking her tongue out at the baby. Bucky screeched in delight, face crinkling up as she grasped more frantically.

“Mine mine mine!”

“What kind of name is 'Gabby'?” Jack teased.

“A real one,” Gabby shot back. Bucky tripped over Gabby's knees, tumbling over her legs and landing with her chest in Gabby's lap, pull-up clad butt pointing up. Gabby tickled Bucky's back fat, eliciting another happy screech from the babe. “Isn't that like, some old Captain America sidekick name? From way back, World War II or whatever.”

“There was more than one Bucky,” Jack grumbled. Gabby looked surprised, much to his dismay. Just more evidence he was doing the right thing, getting out of the whole superhero game. Illness and Bucky besides, clearly he wasn't effecting a hell of a lot of good.

“There have been four!” Dennis piped up helpfully.

“Five,” Jack pointed out. “There's that girl from another planet or universe or something? She's new.”

Dennis blinked. “Oh? I hadn't even heard about that.”

Jack waved a hand dismissively. “I'm sure it'll be in the Christmas card,” he joked.

Bucky had rolled onto her back and was kicking up at Gabby's hands, which Gabby held over Bucky, tapping them against Bucky's hands and feet while the pair made an increasingly ridiculous gambit of faces at each other. “So, what: you're two superhero nerds? Fanboys?”

“Jack named Bucky without me,” Dennis volunteered. “She came along before we were together,” he explained when Gabby cocked her head at him.

“Yeah, uh, how...” She glanced at Bucky and then Jack. He knew she was looking for the resemblance, which wasn't there. Mousy brown hair and blue eyes might be able to give birth to a black-haired, brown-eyed, brown-skinned baby girl, but there wasn't anything of Jack lurking inside Bucky. Not genetically, at least.

“She's adopted,” Jack explained, before Gabby could try a guess. “Her mom was messed up, no dad. I took her in.” Jack left out all the parts about how he hadn't exactly gone through the correct paperwork at first, and mostly had stolen Bucky, and how getting her legally had been a whole process that only came after he'd given her back to the mother once, then the mother died, and then Jack had died a bit... Superheroing: it was pretty much bullshit ninety percent of the time.

“That's cool,” Gabby said. She and Bucky were playing some sort of ad hoc patty-cake now, making the patterns up as they went along. “And then you two hooked up and got like, boyfriend-ed for life?”

Bucky rolled onto her stomach then and pushed herself determinedly to her feet. She toddled over to Dennis in his chair, slapping at his hand in her way to get his attention. Jack had told Dennis he shouldn't respond when she did that, it was surely teaching her some sort of bad lesson about violence and attention, but of course Dennis indulged her. Honestly, Jack would too, she just hadn't formed that habit with him for whatever reason.

“What'd we decide to call each other?” Dennis asked Jack. He grabbed Bucky's wrists and held her up by her arms, dangling her to and fro like a baby orangutang.

“Team-Up?” Jack suggested.

Dennis smiled too big at that, so much so that Jack almost regretted it. Almost.

“World's Finest,” Dennis proclaimed proudly.

Jack snorted and turned his attention to Bucky, who had dropped from Dennis' arms to run and grab some of her action figures.

“So what do you want me to do?” Gabby asked as Bucky toddled over to her with her Captain America doll. “You two got jobs? Or is one of you, like, the wife?”

Dennis giggled and Jack ducked his head. “ _You've_ got that apron,” Jack grumbled.

“And you're the one with the baby,” Dennis shot right back. After a pause, he offered: “Wrestle you for it.”

Jack choked on his own saliva, coughing hard as he kept his head down.

“Neither of us have jobs just yet,” Dennis explained as Jack fought to collect himself. “But we're working on that, and could use you while we look.”

“It'd just be an hour or two after school, a few days a week.” Jack promised her. “And maybe occasionally longer stretches in the evening. That'd be up to you, though.”

“What do you want me to do with her, though?” Gabby asked. Bucky had fallen into her lap and was now bouncing Captain America off Gabby's knee. “Besides change her diaper or whatever?”

“Just play with her, watch her. If she's napping you can do homework or watch TV,” Dennis offered.

“She pretty much takes care of herself,” Jack added. “She's good like that. You just gotta keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't swallow Cap's head or something.”

Gabby glanced down at the action figure in a panic,checking for its head. She breathed a sigh of relief to see it was intact. “You know, you're not supposed to give kids like her these toys. They're like, ages three and up, or something?”

Jack shrugged. “I'm not worried. Bucky's too smart for that.”

Bucky overbalanced herself in Gabby's lap and fell forward, bonking her head directly on the carpet. Her limbs flailed as she tried to right herself until Gabby lifted her and set her upright. She shot Jack a look. Jack just grinned. Gabby would see.

Little less than an hour later Jack got up and walked Gabby to the door as Dennis put Bucky down for her nap.

“We didn't talk about your brother,” Jack reminded Gabby as she collected her backpack. Gabby didn't meet his eyes. “It's okay,” he told her. “But I didn't forget. We'll talk about it next time.”

Gabby shrugged. “Doesn't matter.”

When Jack held out a five dollar bill for Gabby, he didn't release it until she met his eyes. Holding the bill between them, Jack told her: “It does. And we can help.”

“ _Dudo que_ ,” Gabby mumbled to herself.

Jack let that go, along with the five dollar bill.

  
  


 


End file.
